The City Comptroller turned mayoral candidate was on Staten Island Friday night enjoying the Beatles Blast concert at the Richmond County Ballpark in St. George despite a Friday report in the Wall Street Journal that his campaign may not qualify for the more than $3.5 million in public matching funds it needs to have any chance at being competitive in the primary.

"I love it on Staten Island. The people are cheerful. TGIF," said Liu, who rode the Staten Island ferryboat over and shook hands with voters before heading to the concert.

Liu seemed confident that matching fund problem would be resolved.

"My campaign has been in compliance with all the rules and I hope that the board does the right thing because these monetary funds are not just about my campaign, it's about the thousands upon thousands of contributors who have donated to my campaign and fully expected their contributions to be matched under the campaign finance program. That's why the campaign finance programs was set up in the first place."

According to the Journal, the New York City Campaign Finance Board recently sent a letter to Mr. Liu's campaign informing them that its staff had recommended that his request be denied-though it remains unclear exactly why. The Board is set to make its formal decision Monday.

Liu said a lot good things are happening on the Island right now and as mayor he would hope to straighten out some issues Islanders deal with daily. "It's about easing some of the (traffic) congestion that takes place, it's about trying to reduce the tolls, especially for small businesses and it's about improving transportation options for Islanders," he said.

Liu said the Island needs to be connected to the rest of the city "much more so than has ever been done before."